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The Bear and the Bee Hive.
I t was at a well known resort which
has a large patronage from people in
(leorgia as well as other states that the
following ludicrous incident occurred
several years ago.
A man had come along with a pet
bear which had been trained to per
form various tricks. It amused the
crowd for a while, and at length some
one began discoursing about the fond
ness of bears for honey, to which the
owner of the day’s attraction answered
( hat his bear was as fond of it as any
other one. After some talk it was
agreed that the crowd would buy a
bee hive from a neighboring farmer,
bring it up to the grove in front of the
hotel, set it on a bench, and lot Mr.
Bruin “try his hand at it.”
Within a couple of hours two ser
vants brought the bee gum, with a bi
ble cloth wrapped around it, the thou
sands of angry occupants being en
closed securely therein. They placed
it upon the bench some fifty yards or
more from the hotel, drew down the
table cloth, and hastily ran from it,
leaving the bees in possession of their
new stand. After some considerable
swarming around it they settled down
again, and the bear was brought for
ward so that the fun could begin.
His owner led him up within sight
of it, and then stepped to one side.
Bruin saw it and at once started for it
in a rapid shambling trot. The piazza
and some of the benches under the
trees, within less than thirty yards of
the hive, were thronged with people,—
men, women and children, —all gath
ered to see the bear get the honey.
He reached the hive within about a
minute or two, then reared up on his
hind legs, and striking it with one of
his front paws, knocked it to the
ground.
The enraged insects swarmed out in
a perfect cloud; but as if utterly obliv
ious to their presence he begin reach
ing his paws into the box and pulling
out the honey, which he devoured
eagerly and apparently with great rel
ish. lie seemed to pay no attention
to the bees which settled upon his
shoulders and back; but would fre
quently bring his paw down across his
nose in a quick mantier, knocking off
those which were stinging him at that
tender spot.
This went on for some four or five
minutes. The honey, in the meantime,
was getting decidedly scarcer and the
stings decidedly thicker. Suddenly
he turned to one side and gave a snort,
shook his head in a manner indicating
great annoyance, and started in a rapid
run back toward the hotel where the
crowd was gathered. The bees aecom
panied him in his flight, swarming
above him in thousands.
There was instantly a general veil
of consternation among the gentlemen,
and feminine shrieks -filled the air.
livery one arose to get out of the way;
but the Hight of the bear exceeded
theirs, and within less time than it takes
to tell it he was in their midst. The
bees darting in every direction among
the fleeing people soon gave them cause
for the uproar which they had raised.
One lady who was on the front
bench fell across a chair and was al
most instantly in the midst of the oc
cupants of the lately robbed hive. Un
able to rise, she lay upon the ground,
screaming, throwing her arms around
and kicking in a manner which would
have brought dismay to her sweet
hearts in her early days. There was a
frantic scene as gentlemen, ladies and
children stampeded in every direction
through the grove, into the hotel, and
across a neighboring fence.
The bear ran under the house and
soon escaped his tormentors in the com
parative darkness; but the stings which
nearly half the crowd received gave
them very practical reasons for remem
bering with great discomfiture, the oc
currence, which at first seemed so very
funny.
“Successful Beyond Expecta
tion.”
Senator Brown’s father, who, just
after the war of 1812-1815 with Great
Britain, in which he was a soldier,
moved to Bedford county Tennessee,
near Shelbyville, and lived there for
several years, used to be fond of tell
ing an anecdote which occured, we be
lieve, at the home of one of his neigh
bors.
It seems that the party’s hogs had
been getting into his own field destroy
ing his corn, etc., and at last, becom
ing considerably out of patience with
them he determined that he would adopt
a ruse which he thought would proba
bly stop their depredations, at least for
a time.
Accordingly, this plan was put into
operation a few mornings afterward,
when some one came running up to
the house and stated that the hogs were
in the corn again.
Going down with several of the boys
he managed to separate a big old boar,
that was generally the ring leader in
the mischief, from the rest of his com
rades, and drove him up to the house,
and succeeded in corralling him in a
in'll.
He then went into the house and
got the skin of a bear, which he had
shot only a few days before, and, bring
ing it out, managed with the help of
the boys to get the boar down and tie
his legs together until they could suc
ceed in fastening the bear skin around
him, —which was done in a pretty snug
manner, there being enough of open
space left in front for him to see
through tolerably well.
He then loosed his legs and turned
him out of the pen and started him
down toward the field where the rest
of the drove had been left for a few
minutes.
The hog was very much frightened
by the new sort of appendage which
was fastened to him, and broke for his
comrades as fast as his legs could car
ry-him. The farmer and-his boys fol
lowed to enjoy the fun, which came
pretty quickly. The rest of the hogs ,
saw what they thought was a bear
coming toward them, and stampeded
in great consternation for the place
where they had gotten through the ;
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE.
fence into the field. They scampered
in wild confusion to the fence and went
s/k J
through it like a tornado, and soon dis
appeared in the forest with the old boar
following the others, but still some
what in the rear.
The farmer and his boys laughed
hilariously at the ludicrous sight, and
observed it as long as it was possible,
and then went back to the house.
That evening, however, none of the
hogs came up as usual. Accordingly,
after waiting for awhile they went out
and began (‘ailing them; but the
shrill sounds with reverberated echo
died away in the surrounding forest
without callingforthasingle responsive
grunt or squeal.
They now began to suspect that the
joke had been carried further than they
thought; but, hoping that the hogs
would come up next morning, went back
to the house, and, after eating supper,
retired.
The next morning came, however,
but still no hogs. They then com
menced a search for them; but could
not find a single one of the drove any
where. The farmer accordingly took
his horse and rode down through the
country in the direction in* which the
hogs had gone; but after searching
and calling all day could not find
them.
The ensuing day he met a party who
had come from the neighborhood of
Duck River, some thirty miles distant,
and who, after some talk, said to him
that he had seen the most laughable
sight the day before that his eyes had
ever rested upon.
The farmer, with some interest,
asked him what it was.
“Why,” said he, “’way down near
Duck River 1 seed a drove of about
fifteen or twenty hogs running for dear
life, and about one hundred yards be
hind them was anot her one following as
fast as bis legs could carry him. I
didn’t at first know it was a hog, be
cause he had a bear skin around him;
but I soon discovered how it was.
Somebody or other had fixed him that
way, and the other hogs thought it
was a bear and were trying to get
away, and he was trying to catch up
with them and join them.”
Ihe joke was not nearly so funny to
the farmer, who, we believe never did
get back scarcely any of the drove.
Only'via the Western and Atlantic
railroad can you get to Fannin county,
the healthiest county in Georgia, if
not in America.
No tourist should pass through
Chattanooga without stopping and tak
ing a trip over the Western and At
lantic, down through the beautiful and
historic Chickamauga Valley.
He Had Travelled Some Too.
A funny story, and a true one, is
told of a popular German in Atlanta,
who, when he first came from the
Fatherland, moved to Cherokee coun
ty, Georgia, and settled there.
He used to go around the country
peddling for a living, and got along
pretty well. He stopped one night
at the house of an Irishman, by the
name of Haggerty. Before supper,
and after it, Haggerty’s son and the
German visitor got into a discussion
about general matters, and prolonged
it for an hour or so, —not much to the
satisfaction of either party, however.
It ended by the visitor’s remarking
with some little irritation to young
Haggerty :
“Veil! I has peen to Englant, unt
I has peen to Sharmany; unt I has al
so peen to France, unt you pees de
piggest fool vat I ever saw.”
The Georgia youth straightened him
self up, and met this crushing allega
tion by saying:
“Yes. And I’ve been to Acworth,
and I’ve been to Allatoony, and more
than that, I’ve been to Perkerson’s
Mill, and you are the biggest fool that
ever I saw or heard of.”
It is not recorded that there was
any fisticuff between the two disput
ants ; but it is a matter of general in
telligence that the Western & Atlan
tic Railroad runs through Acworth and
Allatoona. Both of these points are
within six miles of Perkerson’s Mills.
Elevations in Northern and
Northwest Georgia.
We have secured from official sourc
es the following list of elevations above
the sea, of mountains, cities, towns,
etc., in the region of North Georgia,
including Chattanooga, Tenn., which
is tributary to the Western & Atlantic
Railroad:
MOUNTAINS.
Kennesaw, 1,809 feet
Sweat, (in Cherokee,) 1,093 “
Pine Log, (in Bartow,) 2,340 “
Cohutta, (in Fannin,) 4,155 “
Lavender, (in Floyd,) 1,683 “
Grassy, (in Pickens,) 3,290 “
Taylor’s Ridge, (in Chattooga,).. 1,556 “
Rocky Face Ridge, (average)... 1,500 “
Dug Gap, 1,500 “
Rocky Face, (south of Dug Gap,) 1,791 “
Lookout, 2,400 “
CITIES, TOWNS, ETC.
Atlanta, 1,050 “
Atlanta Capitol, (flagstaff,) 1,163 “
Chattahoochee Bridge (W&ARR) 832 “
Chattahoochee River, 762 “
Marietta. 1,132 “
Railroad Summit, (W &AR R) 1,156 “
Acworth, 932 “
Allatoona, 875 “
Etowah Bridge, (W. &A. R. R.,) 771 “
Etowah River, 696 “
Kingston, 721 “
Adairsville, 723 “
Calhoun, 653 “
(Jostanaula Bridge, (W &A.R. R) 655 “
Oostanaula River, 623 “
Halton, •• 773 “
runnel 11 ill, 859 “
Ringgold, 785 “
Graysville, 706 “
Ga. A Tenn. Line, AV. AA. R. R.) 714 “
Chattanooga, 663 “
Gordon’s Springs, . . 965 “
Villanow, 914 ‘
Lafayette, 871
Koine, (J 52 “
Canton, , 960 ‘‘
•lasper, 1,530 “
Talking Rock 1,113 “
Ellijay, 1,310 “
White Path, . . 1,500 “
Blue Ridge, 1,769 “
These figures will be interesting to
those who are in search of health re
sorts, as well as those who are desirous
of prospecting for the best regions to
emigrate to.